Fiji’s catalytic investors – BSP Life

In 2026, BSP Life celebrates 150 years since its establishment in Fiji back in 1876 as Colonial Mutual Life Assurance.

Part of the BSP Financial Group since 2010, BSP Life is Fiji’s leading insurer, offering life and health insurance products. The way the company handles the insurance premiums it receives has led to it managing a sizeable and diversified investment fund.

“We must invest premiums we receive prudently, given we have a fiduciary responsibility to our customers that their hard-earned investments with us deliver sustainable value for them over time,” explains Managing Director Michael Nacola.

“Our investment portfolio has grown considerably, particularly in the last 15 years. The portfolio in 2010 was F$350 million, and today it stands at F$1.25 billion.”

“In the context of what’s happening globally right now, Fiji’s location is a major strategic advantage”

The Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa on Denarau Island is jointly owned by BSP Life and Fiji Airways. Credit: Accor

Investment approach

As with superannuation funds, BSP Life needs to exercise caution in making investments, while still aiming to achieve growth.

One of the challenges BSP Life Fiji faces, says Nacola, is the lack of sophisticated and mature investment instruments available overseas, such as managed funds, that it can invest in.

“With the absence of those instruments, we’ve essentially created a managed fund of our own. We currently have eight asset classes, ranging from private equity assets, investments in assets listed on the South Pacific Stock Exchange, a broad directly-managed property portfolio, some overseas investments, as well as defensive assets including government bonds and term deposits. It’s taken time to get to this mature state.”

As far as assessing new investment opportunities is concerned, Nacola says a lot of requests and proposals come across their table.

“There is a meticulous assessment process before an opportunity gets taken through internal approvals and proceeding from concept to execution stage, because we’re very conscious that we’re using policyholder money,” says Nacola.

Key investments

A notable BSP Life holding is the five-star Sofitel Resort & Spa on Denarau Island. This will soon be joined by Vatu Talei, a new F$250 million luxury hotel on an adjacent site, which is due to become fully operational in 2027. The latter is being developed under a joint venture with Fiji Airways called Yavu Collective.

“It’s a unique development for Fiji, never seen before in the southern hemisphere,” Nacola enthuses. “It complements the offering that we currently have in the Sofitel and introduces a sophisticated product that appeals to discerning guests, particularly from long-haul markets like North America, who are looking for something special.”

Nacola says BSP Life is keen to scale up its portfolio more rapidly and he sees the syndicated investments model, whereby local investors like BSP Life form partnerships with “specialist offshore investors that bring both intellectual capital and financial capital” to a project.

There is an “amazing range of opportunity” in Fiji for investors, he says, and the timing is ideal right now.

“Sometimes our location in the past has been seen as a disadvantage because we are remote from large and mature markets. But, in the context of what’s happening globally right now, Fiji’s location is a major strategic advantage.”

This article appears in the 2026/27 edition of Business Advantage Fiji published in August 2026. Read the full edition here.